The History and Benefits of Hemp

Everything you ever wanted to
know
-- and maybe more --
about HEMP

The four Basic Uses of Cannabis Hemp
Food, Fiber, Fuel, Medicine

Let's first learn about the History of Hemp:

HEMP FOR VICTORY !

With the United States entering World War II only
four years after hemp's prohibition, and the synthetic fiber industry
still in its infancy, the armed forces experienced a dangerous shortage
of fiber for the war effort. In 1942, the U.S. government performed
a convenient about-face on the hemp issue. The United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) produced and distributed a motion picture
called "Hemp for Victory" in which the federal government not only
promoted the many uses of cannabis hemp, but also detailed the most
efficient cultivation and harvesting methods. The picture pronounced,
"Hemp for mooring ships! Hemp for tackle and gear! Thread for shoes
for millions of American soldiers! And parachute webbing for our
paratroopers! Hemp for Victory!"

By the end of the war, hemp was no longer
needed for strategic purposes and synthetic fiber was being produced
more efficiently and abundantly than ever. The same soldiers that
hemp had supplied with ship's rigging, rope, tackle, gear, shoes,
and parachutes turn against their recent ally. The Marines themselves,
armed with flame-throwers, and Air Force pilots in crop dusters
are ordered to destroy the same million acres of hemp that were
recently planted for the war effort. These actions were the beginning
of the modern war on marijuana, or more correctly, the modern war
on cannabis, including non-drug hemp.

The war on hemp!

This is a war that Harry Anslinger took to the United
Nations. As U.S. representative on the UN's drug committee, Anslinger
initiated a series of conventions to prohibit the plant worldwide.
To this day, most nations (especially the poorer ones) cannot get
aid from the United States unless they have a government plan to
eradicate hemp.

For example, Bangladesh. "Bang" means marijuana;
Bang-la-desh means marijuana-land-people. The U.S. government went
into Bangladesh and cropdusted their country with toxic herbicides.
Not only did we poison the people of Bangladesh with our "War on
Drugs", but we killed all the hemp that was holding the hillsides
together. There was massive flooding and landslides as a direct
result of America's global drug policy.

Another example is when we paid King Hassad
of Syria to go into the camps of Lebanese Bedouin nomads and cut
down their hemp fields, their food and fiber, with tanks! Harry
Anslinger's modern-day successors, true to his irrational and fanatical
methods, are waging a global genocide war against a plant!

It's not about drugs!

The DEA and Department of Justice's claim that the
prohibition of domestic hemp cultivation should continue because
of its relationship to marijuana is a farce. There are strains of
industrial hemp that are entirely drug-free. Law enforcement's contention
that high-THC cannabis could be hidden in a hemp field is also erroneous,
as cross-pollination would ruin the marijuana.

Their claim that it's too difficult to
tell the difference in the field is also a lie. Industrial hemp
looks more like bamboo than marijuana, and the other 30 industrial
nations that cultivate hemp legally have no problem identifying
the types of cannabis in their fields. The fact that the Drug Enforcement
Agency is prohibiting a drug-free plant is proof positive that the
hemp issue is not about drugs. There is no drug in the plant.

It's all about money!

The prohibition of domestic hemp growth is about
what everything is about in this country. It's about money. The
drug war is big business huge business.
If hemp cultivation were
legalized, there would be an awful lot of DEA agents out of a job.

Consider this: of the one-and-a-half billion
cannabis plants found and destroyed by U.S. drug agents between
1993 and 1997, only fourteen million were marijuana. That's 0.9
percent. That means that 99.1 percent were low-THC hemp. Legalizing
hemp would translate to laying off 99.1 percent of all agents of
the War on Marijuana, 99.1 percent fewer guns, helicopters, automobiles,
flack jackets, etc. That's a lot of money in government contracts.

Hemp is a plant that can naturally and
sustainably provide many products presently available only from
corporate giants like DuPont, International Paper, Texaco, BASF
and the like. They could lose billions if hemp was grown in the
United States for fiber, paper, fuel, and plastics. They have millions
of dollars to back anti-hemp propaganda. They sponsor programs like
D.A.R.E. and The Partnership for a Drug-Free America that equate
hemp's cousin marijuana with deadly drugs like heroin and methamphetamine
to prevent Americans from learning the truth. The cannabis leaf
has even become the poster child for the drug war. Corporate-backed
programs such as D.A.R.E. and The Partnership for a Drug-Free America
are teaching our children that this incredible Earth-friendly plant
is as dangerous as heroin and methamphetamine. These corporations
slander cannabis while promoting themselves as lovers and supporters
of the environment. They run TV commercials that would have us believe
that they are environmental activists with deceptive claims and
scenes of pristine streams and forests. But what they really do
is clear-cut pristine rainforests, poison our air with ozone-depleting
greenhouse gases, and produce tons of toxic chemicals that end up
in our drinking water.

Hemp as public enemy #1

Hemp was the first plant known to have been domestically
cultivated. The oldest relic of human history is hemp fabric dated
to 8,000 BC from ancient Mesopotamia, an area in present-day Turkey.
It has been grown as long as recorded history for food, fuel, fiber,
and for another legitimate use, which is not even discussed here
for the sake of brevity medicine. So, with all these uses and benefits,
why is cannabis cultivation illegal in the United States today?
Here is a brief history of cannabis prohibition:

Hemp was a primary source of paper, textile,
and cordage fiber for thousands of years until just after the turn
of the 20th century. It was at this time that companies like DuPont
first developed chemicals that enabled trees to be processed into
paper.

DuPont's chemicals made wood pulp paper
cheaper than paper made from annual crops like hemp. At the same
time Wm. Randolph Hearst, the owner of the largest newspaper chain
in the United States, backed by Mellon Bank, invested significant
capital in timberland and wood paper mills to produce his newsprint
using DuPont's chemicals.

DuPont also developed nylon fiber as a
direct competitor to hemp in the textile and cordage industries.
Nylon was even billed as synthetic hemp.

DuPont was also manufacturing chemical
pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers useful in the cotton industry,
another hemp competitor.

Mellon Bank, owned by U.S. Treasury Secretary
Andrew Mellon, was also DuPont's primary financier. Mellon's niece
was married to Harry Anslinger, deputy commissioner of the federal
government's alcohol prohibition campaign. After the repeal of Prohibition,
Anslinger and his entire federal bureau were out of a job. But Treasurer
Mellon didn't let that happen. Andrew Mellon single-handedly created
a new government bureaucracy, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, to
keep his family and friends employed. And then he unapologetically
appointed his own niece's husband, Harry Anslinger, as head of the
new multimillion dollar bureaucracy.

At the same time, a machine was developed
that was to hemp what the cotton gin was to cotton: it allowed hemp's
long, tough fiber to be mass processed efficiently and economically
for the first time. Popular Mechanics, in February 1937,
predicted hemp would be the world's first "Billion Dollar Crop"
that would support thousands of jobs and provide a vast array of
consumer products from dynamite to plastics.

This potential rejuvenation of hemp was
a major threat to Secretary Mellon's friends and business associates,
especially Randolph Hearst with his wood paper industry and Lammont
DuPont with his petrochemical and synthetic fiber conglomerates.
After all, hemp farmers wouldn't need DuPont's chemicals to grow
their hemp because the crop is self-sufficient. The hemp-based ethanol
fuel that was mentioned in the Popular Mechanics' article probably
didn't sit too well with the oil companies of the time. They also
couldn't have been too thrilled to learn that this same plant produced
high-strength plastics without a petroleum base. The hemp-based
plastics developed at the time were stronger and lighter than steel,
which we can imagine wasn't the best news for the steel industry.

In addition, the growing pharmaceutical
companies were producing synthetic drugs to replace natural medicines.
Hemp extract was used for thousands of years to effectively treat
everything from epileptic fits to rheumatoid arthritis. Chances
are, hemp's resurgence wasn't good news for these drug companies
either.

What we see is that the potential revival
of the hemp industry was a threat to almost all the corporate giants
of the time, and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon was at the top
of this food chain.

So Commissioner Anslinger, Mellon's appointee,
begins researching rumors that immigrants from Mexico are smoking
the flowers of the hemp plant. Racism was rampant at the time, and
there was a government movement to curb the number of immigrants
crossing the U.S. border at Mexico. Anslinger plugged into the racist
sentiment, and began referring to the "hemp" that Americans knew
cannabis to be, as "marijuana," the Mexican slang word for the plant.
He labeled it as a "narcotic" even though cannabis flowers cannot
cause narcosis, and spread exaggerated stories and outright lies
that Mexicans and blacks became violent and disrespectful to whites
when they smoked the "evil menace marijuana."

This slander of cannabis was all just fine
for Anslinger's friends, the Mellons, the DuPonts, and the Hearsts.
In fact, Hearst's newspapers picked up on the propaganda and fueled
the fire by publishing hundreds of lurid stories about people raping
and murdering while under the influence of marijuana. The sensationalism
sold lots of newspapers, and the people of the country actually
based their opinions on this one-sided information. Of course the
stories never mentioned the hemp that people used everyday as rope,
paper, medicine, and more. The stories always referred to cannabis
by the Mexican slang word, marijuana.

With the moral and prohibitive fervor of
the time duly stirred, Anslinger took his show to Congress. At the
proceedings of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Anslinger didn't mention
that marijuana was hemp. And because anti-marijuana propaganda didn't
mention that basic fact, hemp industries found out almost too late
about the effort to criminalize cannabis cultivation. Testimony
was heard from the full gamut of hemp companies and advocates, from
birdseed suppliers to cordage manufacturers, from farmers to physicians,
all touting hemp's importance in American history and the many industrial,
agricultural, medicinal, and economic benefits of cannabis. Only
after their testimony, was the wording of the bill changed to allow
for the continued legal cultivation of industrial hemp. Anslinger
even backed off on hemp prohibition in a very cunning maneuver.

After the Act was passed, Anslinger single-handedly
usurped congressional power by mandating hemp prohibition. He justified
his action by saying that his agents couldn't tell the difference
between industrial hemp and marijuana in the field, so hemp cultivation
made enforcement of marijuana prohibition impossible. This unconstitutional
usurpation of congressional law is still in effect today as the
Department of Justice and the DEA still cling to Anslinger's unjust
and unjustifiable prohibition on domestic hemp cultivation.

Cannabis Hemp really can provide all the basic necessities of life:

Food,
Shelter, Clothing and Medicine.

It has been said that, "anything
made from a hydrocarbon can be made from a carbohydrate."

Hemp is the cousin of marijuana. They are from the same plant - Cannabis
sativa L. There are over 400 strains of Cannabis Hemp bred for various
uses. The term, "Hemp" refers to the industrial use of the stalk
and seed. "Cannabis", or "marijuana", refers to the
smoking of the flowers. Intoxication requires high levels of THC TetraHydroCannabinol.
Industrial hemp contains only .3%-1.5% THC. By contrast, cannabis contains
5%-10% or more THC.
The plant itself is easy to grow in temperate climates, and requires good
soil, fertilizer and water, but no pesticides nor herbicides. A hemp crop
is usually harvested in 120 days after reaching a height of 10-15 feet.
At that point one can make it into whatever suits their needs.

FOODThe hempseed is the only source of food from the hemp
plant. It is not really
a seed, but an achene- a nut covered with
a hard shell. Hempseed is used for people and animal food, medicinal preparations,
and industrial use. Hemp seeds are drug-free and extremely nutritious. They
can be eaten whole, pressed into edible oil like soybeans, or ground into
flour for baking. They are one of the best sources of vegetable protein.
They contain a full complement of essential amino acids, essential fatty-acids
(EFA'S), and have been shown to lower blood cholesterol and dissolve plaque
in coronary arteries.

Because hemp is such a hardy plant, it
can grow easily and abundantly almost anywhere, and can provide nutrition
where other edible crops just won't grow. Hemp can even be cultivated
in arid regions with poor soil like Saharan Africa or in places with a
very short growing season like Scandinavia.

Whole Seed
The whole seed contains roughly 25% protein, 30% carbohydrates, 15% insoluble
fiber, carotene, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron
and zinc, as well as vitamins E, C, B1, B2, B3, B6. Hempseed is one of
the best sources of Essential Fatty Acids with a perfect 3:1 ratio of
Omega-3 linolenic Acid, and Omega-6 linoleic Acid, good for strengthening
the immune system. It is also a good source of Gamma linoleic Acid (GLA)
which is otherwise available only from specialty oils like evening primrose
oil or borage oils. Whole seeds are made into: snack bars, cookies, burgers
and porridge, or they may be roasted and consumed alone or in a trail
mix. Wild and domestic birds love hempseeds.

Seed Oil
Hempseed is 30% oil, and is one of lowest in saturated fats making it
good for lowering cholesterol levels and strengthening cardiovascular
systems. The oil has a pleasantly nutty flavor. Among the foods made with
hempseed oil are: sauces, butter, condiments and pesto.
Processing of hempseed oil starts with drying the seeds to prevent sprouting.
Hempseeds imported to the United States or Canada must be steam sterilized
at 180F for 15 minutes to prevent further sprouting. The seeds are then
pressed and bottled immediately under oxygen-free conditions. hempseed
oil is very fragile, is not suitable for cooking, and must be kept refrigerated
in dark, air tight containers.

Seed and Seed Oil

Hemp has been a part of the Chinese pharmacopoeia for the past 4,000
years. Ancient Chinese folk remedies call for hempseed use to improve
the "chi" or stamina of the body; to cure neurologic impairment
due to stroke, urinary disorders, and blood deficiency.
Externally, hempseed preparations promote the healing of sores and dry
skin. Traditional hemp oil formulas were applied topically to treat abscesses,
boils, pimples and swellings. Currently marketed products include lip
balm, moisturizers, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, salves, perfumes, liniments.
These hempseed oil mixtures do the same for the skin and hair that the
oil does for the diet when taken internally.

Seed Meal and Cake
The meat of the seed is also highly nutritious and versatile as a seed
"meal" and may be made into hemp milk and cheese, ice cream,
and burgers. Left over from pressing the oil is press "cake"
- high in amino acids and edistin protein. It can be crushed for animal
feed or pulverized for flour to make breads, pastas, and cookies.
Throughout history, hemp has provided a nourishing food supply to many
cultures around the world. In Asia, roasted hempseed is eaten as a snack,
like popcorn. In Russia, hemp butter was used as a condiment by the peasants.
In Poland, seeds are used for holiday sweets. Hempseed was eaten by Australians
during two famines in the nineteenth century. The most famous hempseed
consumer was Buddha himself, who ate them during his fast of enlightenment.

FIBER
One of the most valuable parts of the hemp plant is the fiber, commonly
referred to as "bast, meaning that it grows as a stalk from
the ground. Other fibers such as sisal, manila hemp and jute are mistakenly
referred to as, hemp, yet only Cannabis sativa is considered "true
hemp." Among the characteristics of hemp fiber are its superior strength
and durability, and its stunning resistance to rot, attributes that made
hemp integral to the shipping industry. The strong, woody bast fiber is
extracted from the stalk by
a process known as decortication. Hemp fiber contains a low amount of
lignin, the organic glue that binds plant cells, which allows for environmentally
friendly bleaching without the use of chlorine. In composite form, hemp
is twice as strong as wood. All products made with hemp fiber are biodegradable.

Long Fiber
Extracted from the bark of the stalk, this type of fiber is called "long"
because it
stretches the entire length of the plant. The length of the fiber enhances
the strength and durability of the finished goods. Hemp can grow to 15
feet or more, making it excellent for textile production. Hemp is most
similar to flax, the fiber of linen products. By contrast, cotton fibers
are approximately 1-2 mm in length and are prone to faster wear. Hemp
fiber also has insulative qualities that allow clothing wearers to stay
cool in summer and warm in the winter. Long hemp fiber is used in twine,
cordage, textiles, paper, webbing and household goods.

Short Fiber
The short fibers, or "tow," are the secondary hemp fibers ..
While not as strong as the long fibers, the tow is still superior to many
other fibers. Tow is extracted from the long fibers during a process called
"hackling," a method of combing and separating the fiber from
hurd. Short fibers are used to make textiles, non-woven matting, paper,
caulking, auto bodies, building materials and household goods.

Hurds
Also known as shives, the hurd is the woody material found in the center
of the hemp stalk. The hurd is rich in cellulose, a carbohydrate that
can be made into paper, packaging and building materials, as well as plastic
composites for making skate boards and auto bodies.
As long ago as 450 BC the Scythians and Thracians made hemp linens. The
Chinese first used hemp for paper making in 100 AD. Hempen sails, caulking
and rigging launched a thousand ships during the Age of Discovery in the
15th Century. Drafts of the American Declaration of Independence were
printed on rag papers that undoubtedly contained hemp. The USDA calculated
in 1914 that hemp hurds could make four times as much paper per acre as
trees.

FUEL Hemp biomass as a source of fuel is the most under exploited,
yet potentially the biggest industrial use of the plant. Hemp stalks are
rich in fiber and cellulose with potential for use in the generation of
energy. The hemp stalk can be converted to a charcoal-like substance through
a process called pyrolysis, and used for power generation and to produce
industrial feed stocks. Auto giant Henry Ford was a pioneer in the pyrolysis
process, and operated a biomass pyrolytic plant at Iron Mountain in northern
Michigan.
Hemp as an auto fuel is another potential use. Almost any biomass material
can be converted to create methanol or ethanol, and these fuels burn cleanly
with less carbon monoxide and higher octane than fossil fuels. In fact,
the diesel engine was invented to burn fuel from agriculture waste yet
ended up burning unrefined petroleum. Hempseed oil can be refined to produce
a type of hemp gasoline.Hemp seeds have provided
a combustible fuel oil throughout human history. More importantly, though,
the same high cellulose level that makes hemp ideal for paper also makes
it perfect for ethanol fuel production. Ethanol is the cleanest-burning
liquid bio-alternative to gasoline. In one test, an unleaded gasoline
automobile engine produced a thick, black carbon residue in its exhaust,
while the tailpipe of a modified ethanol engine tested for the same 3,500
miles remained pristine and residue-free.

Ethanol is derived from plant cellulose.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight and produce oxygen and
cellulose, which contains the sun's energy captured in plant cells. When
ethanol combusts, it releases energy, water vapor, and carbon dioxide.
The carbon dioxide is then absorbed by plants, along with water and sunlight,
to create more oxygen and cellulose. It is a clean and sustainable cycle.

Since gasoline engines are a primary source
of carbon monoxide and greenhouse gases, alternative fuels such as ethanol
could contribute significantly to the rejuvenation of our atmospheric
air quality. Hemp provides a sustainable, renewable, and natural alternative
to toxic fossil fuels.
Bio-Diesel Fuel:

-Industrial hemp would be a viable bio-diesel fuel if hemp were legal to cultivate in the United States.

-In 2001, the “Hemp Car”, a converted 1980s diesel Mercedes station wagon drove a 13,000 mile 50 city tour of North America. It was powered solely by 600 gallons of hemp bio-diesel fuel made from the stalk of the hemp plant.

-In a period of 28 days, pure bio-diesel degrades 85 to 88 percent in water.

-Any CO2 released from burning hemp as fuel matches the CO2 the plant had beneficially taken from the environment while growing, creating what is called a closed carbon cycle that could slow down the effects of global warming.

-Studies have shown that One Acre of Hemp can produce up to 500 gallons of hemp bio-diesel fuel every 120 days.

*****************************************

MEDICINE
The medicinal use of cannabis hemp is only now being understood and applied
in spite of the fact that the herb has been a folk remedy for thousands
of years.

Flowers
The consumption of high- THC cannabis flowers, or buds, through smoking
or eating is used to treat a number of ailments:

Nausea- for cancer patients while undergoing
chemotherapy and AIDS patients, smoking cannabis is preferred over taking
THC in pill form because it acts faster and patients are able to dose
themselves more accurately.

Intraocular pressure- for glaucoma suffers,
cannabis relieves the pressure in their eyes that leads to blindness.

Seizures- the cannabidiol in cannabis improves
the condition of grand mal and partial seizure sufferers and allows them
to reduce or dispense with conventional medications.

Depression- for patients who do not respond
to or who want to avoid the side-effects of other medications.

Asthma- cannabis smoke dilates the bronchial
passages.
Historically, Indian doctors have used bhang (a preparation of cannabis,
honey and milk) for the treatment of all kinds of ailments. In the mid-19th
century, Or. William O'Shaughnessy helped introduce cannabis, or bhang,
to western culture.
This spawned a whole slew of over-the-counter cannabis medications marketed
by Squibb, Parke-Davis, and Eli lilly.
Queen Victoria herself used cannabis medicine for menstrual cramps.
One of the most enduring characteristics of cannabis as medicine is its
inherent lack of toxicity. There has never been a recorded case of death
from cannabis overdose in the thousands of years it has been used by mankind.

Hemp is another word
for the plant Cannabis sativa L. Marijuana comes from this
same plant genus -- and so do broccoli and cauliflower. But the
strains of hemp used in industrial and consumer products contain
only a negligible level of the intoxicating substance delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol,
or THC. Thus, industrial grade hemp is not marijuana.

Hemp is the most useful and beneficial
plant in nature.

Hemp for body care

Hemp seed oil is perfectly
suited for hair and skin care. Its nutritional value, combined with
its moisturizing and replenishing EFA's, make it one of the best vegetable
body care foundations. Hemp seed oil's EFA complement includes polyunsaturated
fatty acids, omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, linoleic acid, and gamma linoleic
acids (GLA's). Although they are very effective in skin care maintenance,
GLA's are rarely found in natural oils. Hemp is an excellent source
of GLA's.

Paper from hemp

Hemp paper is naturally acid-free. The oldest printed
paper in existence is a 100 percent hemp Chinese text dated to 770
AD. Thomas Jefferson drafted both the Declaration of Independence
and the U.S. Constitution on hemp paper.

Hemp's cellulose level is almost three
times that of wood, so it makes superior paper and yields four times
as much pulp per acre as trees. The hemp paper process also utilizes
less energy and fewer chemicals than tree paper processing and doesn't
create the harmful dioxins, chloroform, or any of the other 2,000
chlorinated organic compounds that have been identified as byproducts
of the wood paper process.

Hemp is a sustainable, annual crop that
is ready for harvest just 120 days after going to seed, compared
to trees which take tens or hundreds of years to reach maturity.
Further, harvesting hemp doesn't destroy the natural habitats of
thousands of distinct animal and plant species.

Historically, hemp was an important source
of paper fiber until the early 1900's when chemicals were developed
to advance the wood paper pulp industry. Wood pulp paper rode the
chemical revolution to its apex before the public health hazards
of toxic chemicals were an issue and before the environmental consequences
of clear-cutting forests were appreciated.

Hemp as paint & plastic

Hemp oil extract can also be used as an ingredient
in nontoxic, biodegradable inks, paints, and varnishes. It is an
ideal raw material for plant-based plastics such as cellophane as
well as more recently developed cellulose-based plastics.

Henry Ford himself manufactured the body
of an automobile from hemp-based plastic in 1941. The plastic was
much lighter than steel and could withstand ten times the impact
without denting. The car was even fueled by clean-burning hemp-based
ethanol fuel.

Hemp as textile fiber

Hemp is the longest and strongest plant fiber. It
is extremely abrasion and rot resistant and was the primary source
of canvas, sail, rope, twine, and webbing fiber for hundreds of
years before nylon was patented by DuPont in 1937. Hemp was used
for clothing, military uniforms, ship's rigging, shoes, parachute
webbing, baggage, and much more. Christopher Columbus' ships were
fully rigged in hemp. The U.S.S. Constitution, "Old Ironsides,"
was outfitted with over 40 tons of hemp rigging.

Because of the multitude of uses for hemp,
the early Colonial American governments mandated its cultivation.
Early American settlers even used hemp fiber as money and to pay
taxes. Because of its length and strength, hemp fiber can be woven
into natural advanced composites, which can then be fashioned into
anything from fast food containers to skateboard decks to the body
of a stealth fighter.

Concrete from hemp

Madame France Perrier builds
about 300 houses per year out of hemp in France. Years ago she researched
ways to petrify vegetable matter. During her studies, she found evidence
in ancient Egyptian archaeological sites of hemp-based concrete. When
she discovered the ingredients of the mix, she duplicated the method.
She mixes hemp hurds (the inner fiber) with limestone and water, which
causes the hemp to harden into a substance stronger than cement and
only one sixth the weight. Madame Perrier' isochanvre is also more
flexible than concrete, giving it a major advantage over conventional
building materials, especially in areas throughout the world that
are prone to earthquakes.

Hemp replacing wood

Bill Conde is the owner of the largest Redwood lumberyard
in Oregon, and one of the few lumber men willing to admit hemp's
benefits. His family has been in the lumber industry for generations.
He is a firsthand witness to the destruction of the nation's pristine
forests. The fiberboard offshoot of the lumber industry is one of
the most threatening to the world's forests.

Fiberboard, or pressboard, is made by chipping
trees into small pieces and then compressing the chips into boards
using adhesives. This industry is so destructive because chip plants
can use young immature trees, which are just as useful for pressboard
as older trees. These mills threaten to destroy even the youngest
of forests. Conde and the highly regarded wood products division
of Washington State University developed a method of fabricating
tree-free pressboard out of hemp. The method uses existing technology
and wood-chip mills. Their hemp fiberboard is superior in strength
and quality to the same product produced using trees.

Hemp as rotation crop and soil rejuvenator

Hemp is an ideal rotation crop for farmers worldwide.
It puts down a taproot twelve inches long in only thirty days, preventing
topsoil erosion. Its water requirements are negligible, so it doesn't
require much irrigation and will grow in arid regions. It matures
from seed in only 120 days, so it doesn't need a long growing season.
Hemp's soil nutrients concentrate in the plant's roots and leaves.
After harvest, the roots remain and the leaves are returned to the
fields. In this way, soil nutrients are preserved.

Hemp is also a beneficial crop for the
Earth itself. It is very easy on the land. It doesn't need many
nutrients, so it doesn't require chemical fertilizers. Hemp outcompetes
other weeds, so it doesn't need herbicides to thrive. Even hemp
strains that are 100 percent THC-free produce their own resins that
make the crop naturally pest-free, so it doesn't require toxic chemical
pesticides. Hemp actually leaves the soil in better condition than
before it was planted.

Hemp's comeback is in our hands

So how do we change it all? What can we do to show
the multinational mega-corporations that we care about our environment
even if they don't?

Remember, it's all about money. If we continue
to buy the same old products from the same old companies that have
gotten us into this mess, we can expect more of the same destruction.
But, we can affect positive change by buying products produced from
sustainable sources by environmentally responsible companies.

Of all the sustainable sources for consumer
products, hemp is uniquely suited to provide the widest variety
of life's necessities and comforts. In this way, hemp is nature's
gift to humanity.

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